Death Breath (UPDATED: A Deep Pocket)

The past few weeks I've worked a lot with Piggy to start getting her happy and healthy again. We've got her on a good food that she seems to be doing well on (Pet Chef Express, no corn, no wheat, no soy, natural doggie food). We are treating her dry eye condition daily and making tons of progress. We are going to have her spayed after she gets out of heat and gets closer to hormonally "normal".

But the biggest problem we have with Piggy is....

The DEATH BREATH

She has the WORST doggie breath that I have ever dealt with. The vet says her teeth are in good shape but it could be coming from the respiratory infection she had when we found her. Three weeks later it's not changed at all.

God I love this dog but morning kisses will definitely open your eyeballs.

So who has any ideas for natural products, we are trying to avoid the big three allergy ingredients (corn, wheat, soy) and I have another dog in the house that is grain intolerant so we try to keep chewies that have grain ingredients down to a minimum.

We have started brushing her teeth every couple of days because that's all she will let us do for now.

Is there puppy Listerine?

Update:With some serious coaxing my husband and I really got into Piggy's mouth and I think we found the source of the problem. She really needs a cleaning but right in front of her two front teeth she has a very deep gap in between her teeth, almost an eighth of an inch, where we found what looked like hair growing between her teeth.

It freaked me out. Dusty was brave enough to see if he could remove the hair and it came out easily. After twenty minutes of coaxing and the use of some dental floss we cleaned out this odd pocket between her teeth. The smell was horrendous but it was all packed with hair. After looking with a good light there is gum tissue all through this pocket between her teeth, there is no hole going into her nasal cavities.

It looks like a lot of stuff has been getting caught in there and her teeth have never been cleaned. All the hair was either white or brindle so I think it's come from where she was biting to scratch herself when her skin was so irritated. So payday we are going to try and get her teeth done, but starting with her new brushing regiment we are going to have to make sure that pocket is clean.

Re: Death Breath

I would think having her teeth cleaned would help.....?

Even if they don't look 'real bad', it could still be part of the problem.... have you checked on denta sticks and such? Greenies? I don't use those, I like getting nylabones myself, which could work....if she chews on them that is.

I think greenies/dental chews is the closest thing your are going to get to listerine.....

God I love this dog but morning kisses will definitely open your eyeballs.

You made me LOL with this!

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Re: Death Breath

I would echo the use of Nylabones and Kongs and things that will get Piggy chewing. They also make really nice Nylabones that have ridges in the middle that remove plaque and massages the gums that I have all around the house. Chewing those bones really cleans the teeth and gums but if her breath is just totally gross and stinky, I would have the vet take a closer look at the teeth, unless she's suffering from a respiratory infection still, in which case, that should be discussed. Bad breath means something in decaying in or around the mouth so it's important to find root of the problem.

"I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive."
Bentley (5.24.04 - 6.26.10) & Linus (1.10.06 - 7.31.13)

Re: Death Breath

They do make doggie breath mints... my little LuLu does love them. I would do the nylabone or give her a carrot to chew on...but still get the infection taken care of. Did the vet not give an antibiotic to rid her of the infection? As just like people, when you are sick ... you tend to hold that sickness in your mouth. There may be a mouthwash, like kids that you could put on tooth brush and brush it around her mouth. Good Luck!My little LuLu always having to steal my spot when I get up.

Re: Death Breath

She was on antibiotics for 14 days.

I'm more than likely going to swing her back into the vet as soon as she's out of heat, we are having problems with every loose dog for miles showing up in our complex the past week and I don't like taking her anywhere unless we really have to, if she goes anywhere it's a car ride only. The mom and pop pet shop I frequent has something similar to greenie's but without all the "bad" grains. So I may pick some of those up in the next day or so. Piggy doesn't like me digging around her mouth. Her teeth look pretty clean but her gums are pretty irritated so I think she's due for a good cleaning.